Break for Vogues

So packing is ... hectic. And I'm tired of boxes and loads of laundry (thanks to water damage and mold we have to wash EVERYTHING - fortunately the apartment's paying for it but I'm still the one doing it) so I'm taking a dinner break to focus on something rather unexpectedly happy - the Fall Vogues!

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I love the belt on this - the way it's sewn in on the back avoids the bubble butt that volume + belt can give.  And while it's still more volume than I can wear without feeling silly or overly fussy it's at least a good take on the volume of the past few years.

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What a gorgeous and smart dress for fall.  I love all the seams and the square neckline.  So beautiful.

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This is such a fabulous day-to-night outfit.  You can't see it in the picture because they picked black (why, when it photographs so badly) but there's a gorgeous bit of seaming details going on between the waist and hips.  A great way to use some nice wool.  

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More fabulous details - the skirt has a neat gather in the front (here obscured by the jacket) and a nice diagonal asymetrical seam in the back.  Very nice, great way to make an extra-special little black skirt.  Like the jacket as well but it's really the skirt that wins it for me.  I would, however, put in a kick pleat rather than that slit... that always looks like something cheap brands do to save money and time.  Not so fab.

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Pleats at the neck, gorgeous.  Not sure if I can pull off a fitted knit dress (though it does call for fairly firm knit) as those react badly with my "athletic" thighs.  But still, very gorgeous dress.

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Another fabulous little dress.  That waist panel looks so flattering and there's lots of seams to let you get the fit just perfect.  

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Ok, impractical and totally not me, but I love the high waisted skirt and little capelet jacket.  It's such an Adelle Dewit outfit (from Dollhouse - I have a rather pitifully desperate crush on her wardrobe) and I so want to be the sort of person who can pull off such a style.

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Ok, not feeling the jacket but the rest of the wardrobe is lovely.  I especially like the dress/faux top and skirt.  Very slick and chic.  And in a solid color the jacket isn't too bad.  Ok, it's kinda nice, with the slim pieces underneath.  I could grow to like it.  But the skirt and dress are really my favorites.  And the skirt and pants both have darts under the waistband which are a big plus for me - so many patterns with waistbands forget that some of us have curvy bums and need all the shaping we can get.  I'll probably still have to add to the dart but at least it's there to start with and doesn't have to be drafted in entirely.  

Ok, that was a nice break.  :)  Back to the laundry and boxes and off to pick up box tape!

Fourth of July Skirt

(btw, those are sitting, not fitting, wrinkles. Just to make myself feel better about showing this picture)

New skirt just in time for the 4th! And yes, you'll notice I do go in for themed dressing. :)

The skirt is from the sadly out of print Simplicity 3754 which is my current favorite skirt pattern. It's also my most-used skirt pattern with three different incarnations hanging in my closet. Love!

The fabric is a medium weight cotton that was originally in Joann's home dec section before getting thrown in the remnant bin. Our Joann's seems to have a new policy on what constitutes remnants because out of nowhere the bins showed up and more often then not you can find up to two yards of very nice fabric for 50% off. And when the remnants themselves go on sale it's just happy times for me. This red cotton came home with four other pieces and I think the bill was less than $5. Serious score there. Two of those pieces are "in process" as I finish little details and such so hopefully they'll make their debut soon.

But back to the skirt, it's my sole "mini" skirt (in quotes because I've found what I consider mini is simply short to most people) and a fun skirt to wear. So bright and happy! My only dislike are those criss-cross belt holders - I put them in correctly so it's not an operator error. I'm thinking that they're just drafted too long, especially since this skirt is the recommended fabric weight so they SHOULD be perfect. Oh well.

Beyond that, we had a lazy Sunday that SHOULD have been spent getting the place ready for our evacuation. Oh, well. We'll work on it tonight and I've got tomorrow morning free so it'll get done. And it was a very enjoyable lazy so the time wasn't wasted. :)

Le Sigh

Interesting note - if you're feeling annoyed or upset, google image search "face palm." It'll make your day, I promise.

Anyway, got air tests back from our moldy walls and good news is it's not black mold. Bad news is it's just about all it's cousins and friends. So wheels are in motion to get this all cleaned out and up and whatnot. Which would all be SO much easier if we weren't moving in two weeks. Seriously. So on ... monday? ... we're getting moved to a new apartment that's pre-furnished with some basics and all our stuff gets to undergo mold detox. Fun stuff. On the good news it looks like we'll get to forego the military grade move out inspection. I've done two of those in this building already and was NOT looking forwards to a third. So yay on missing that.

On the downside we'll be seperated from all our stuff and be reunited with it box by box just in time to turn around and move it again to our new temporary location. Which we'll be in all of two days before vacation with the in-laws and then, just when all that craziness dies down, move AGAIN to Wisconsin. So, yes, four apartments in two months' time. Not so excited about that.

We asked a lot of questions and detox team #1 will come by tomorrow to figure out just how intensive the cleaning will need to be so we'll have more concrete info tomorrow. Until then it's just a lot of tidying up in prep for detox/move/storage and just one more chapter of craziness in life!

And not surprisingly sewing's a bit on hold. I hope to have a new skirt or two to show off soon, we'll see.